MAMA AND THE CIVIL WAR

LOUISA SANDERS MAY CRUTCHER
Born 1851 - Died 1908

Some of the experiences of the Civil War as told to me by my mother who was 10 years old at the beginning of the war in 1861:

My mother was born February 5, 1851. Her parents were William Woodson and Sarah J. May. Grandpa May was born October 1, 1826, and Grandma May was born December 5, 1832.

At the beginning of the war they were 35 and 29 years old, respectively. They were the parents of four children; Scott, twelve years old, Lou (my mother) was 10, Susan Elizabeth eight, and Thomas four years old. During the war years on January 27, 1862 a baby boy arrived who was named William W. and later called Billy.

Grandpa went to war and later was made Captain in the Southern Army, Grandma being left with the children. She had the responsibility of taking care of business, providing them with food and spinning and weaving the thread to make their clothes. At night she and the children would pull the lint off of cotton seed by hand so as to have thread to spin and weave into clothes.